Mud, mud, mud in DD4 cave

 Cave diving, Caving, Victoria  2 Responses »
Jul 012014
 
Mud, mud, mud in DD4 cave

About the cave DD4 is a streamway cave in western Victoria, close to the South Australian border. Unlike the crystal clear sinkholes of Mt Gambier DD4 is a small stream winding its way through limestone…and lots and lots of mud. There is a lot of walking passage through the cave, as well as a lot of areas where rockfall leaves you climbing over or under. And then there’s the mud. Lots of it. About the trip We visited DD4 for a reason – to follow up on sump exploration there from several years ago. Agnes Milowka put nearly 70m of line into the terminal sump of the cave and reported that it continued. It seemed about time to see how [read more…]

Exploration in Elk River

 Cave diving, Caving, Victoria  No Responses »
Jun 242014
 
Exploration in Elk River

I’ve been a little busy recently, as you might have gathered from the sporadic updates to the site. I’ve been bouncing from Victoria to Tasmania to South Australia and back again caving and diving. So instead of posting things in the order in which they happened, I’m going to start with the most recent and fill in the gaps over the next few weeks. This photo above is my favourite from this weekend just gone – the moment of triumphant return with empty reel in hand. The photo was taken (and the line was laid) in Elk River cave in eastern Victoria. As per previous posts here, here and here, we’ve been putting a bit of work into this cave [read more…]

Seawhips in Bicheno

 Ocean diving, Reef diving  3 Responses »
Jun 172014
 
Seawhips in Bicheno

About the site Bicheno is a small town up on the northern end of the east coast of Tasmania. With prevailing south westerly winds through winter the waters are relatively calm and the diving a (very) short boat trip from shore. If I was living in Bicheno I’d strongly consider buying a nice underwater scooter rather than a boat. If you were feeling enthusiastic the dive sites are swimmable distance. But we were there for the 2014 Combined Clubs Weekend and had the pleasure of going out with Bruce from Bicheno Dive and his very nice boat. About the dive The shot above is from the first dive of the long weekend. We jumped in and dropped down into clear [read more…]

The Cathedral in Piccaninnie Ponds

 Cave diving, Mt Gambier  1 Response »
Jun 032014
 
The Cathedral in Piccaninnie Ponds

About the site Pics is a gorgeous dive. The site earned a RAMSAR listing in 2012 and early last year works were carried out to slightly raise the water level and flood an additional 25ha of wetlands. I dived there earlier in the year with a film crew working on a shoot for the History Channel. We had a brilliant day of sunshine and very clear water, and I was keen to get back to shoot some stills for myself. About the dive Diving here is a very vertical experience. The cave is a narrow rift from the surface down to 40m. In places it’s cut away underneath and on a normal scuba dive the exhaled bubbles run up the [read more…]

Diving the end of Elk River

 Cave diving, Victoria  1 Response »
May 282014
 
Diving the end of Elk River

Last weekend was our twelfth trip into Elk River cave. We missed the Easter trip with a few people away (out on the Nullarbor, in my case) and it was good to be back two months after the last trip. In March Steve spent his time beyond sump 5 pinning down and re-routing the existing line to make the inevitable zero-vis exits as painless as possible. This work, and the stash of tanks staged at the end, set us up well for a push beyond the end of the line this trip. In addition to putting Andreas in sump 7 to push, I also intended to accompany him with camera in hand. On previous trips I had carried the camera [read more…]

Waterfalls in Boulder Jenga

 Caving, Tasmania  No Responses »
May 132014
 
Waterfalls in Boulder Jenga

About the cave Tassie has some beautiful caves, which are also known for being somewhat of a summer-only destination. Not that it’s any warmer underground in the JF in summer…but it can be a touch drier. The cave pictured above is JF398, the entrance of which was discovered and tagged back in the 80s. Earlier this year the massive boulder pile that fills the entrance down to 35m below the surface was passed, and the cave named Boulder Jenga. Exploration occurred during one of the driest periods of the year. A small stream above the entrance sinks into the cave and recent rain made our trip last weekend a little wetter than initial exploration. About the trip With the key [read more…]

 Older Entries  Newer Entries